Chapter 149: The Barrel of the Gun, the Barrel of the Pen

(The preceding text has been slightly revised.)

……

In the past, when Zang Nu was in New Qinzhong, he had held the post of Company Commander in the army, theoretically commanding five hundred men. Appointing him as Wei Cao Yuan, a three-hundred-dan post, was considered a lateral move.

The alternate title for Wei Cao Yuan was Sikong Yuan, specifically in charge of the convicts and criminals in the commandery. These people could not be kept idle for nothing; they had to perform heavy manual labor, such as building city walls and repairing roads. Wei Commandery did not have many — government slaves, bondservants, and convicts together totaled just over six hundred, of whom able-bodied adult males numbered over three hundred, nearly four hundred.

Zang Nu had been completely illiterate in the past. During their time in Diwu Village, he and the other military officers had been herded by Diwu Lun into the community school to open a special class, where they had barely learned a few characters. Diwu Lun also assigned a local clerical assistant to aid Zang Nu. In two days' time, they sorted out the able-bodied convicts.

Those guilty of the most heinous crimes — such as rape, abduction, or striking their parents — were deemed unusable and left to continue their heavy bitter toil. The remaining three hundred or so, mostly arrested and enslaved for counterfeiting coins or being unable to pay the property tax, were gathered together by Zang Nu. With the clerical assistant acting as interpreter, he gave them a talk drawn from his own experience.

"I'll be frank with you all. In the past, I too was a convict slave!"

Zang Nu's words were plain and unadorned. Without wasting breath, he directly stripped off his upper garment, revealing stripe after stripe of lash scars that could never fully fade. This stirred a pang of empathy in the convicts' hearts.

Convicts in the commanderies and counties performed heavy manual labor, yet their treatment was abysmal. To meet deadlines, they had to work overtime and extra shifts. The moment their pace slowed, they suffered corporal punishment from the officials, and some were even beaten to death.

After all, the statutes decreed: if an official managing wall-building or grain-pounding convicts beat a convict to injury or death, it was treated as a superior injuring an inferior. The law dealt with it leniently, allowing redemption in place of death. If a convict was beaten and injured but did not die, the punishment for the official was even lighter.

Zang Nu spoke of his own past, so very similar to theirs: long years as a slave, toiling in the fields for over twenty years, then abandoned by his master because he ate too much and reduced to a government slave. Then he had been conscripted into the Boar-Rush Braves, sent to the frontier to die, fully expecting to meet his end.

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"By great fortune, we encountered Lord Diwu!"

"In the army, I rose to Company Commander. Returning to Guanzhong, I even married a beautiful wife. Lord Diwu provided the betrothal gifts for me, and also redeemed my family members to commoner status on my behalf. And now, I have become a Cao Yuan."

Zang Nu spoke with genuine emotion; he was indeed willing to die for Diwu Lun. He promised that, just as with the Boar-Rush Braves, as long as the convicts performed well, they could earn pardons and promotions. The present day of Zang Nu and his comrades would be their tomorrow.

Diwu Lun could not trust the commandery troops under the powerful local families' control. Even Li Yan, the old Commandery Governor of ten years, had been stabbed at the drop of a hat, let alone himself. Only these convicts had no background whatsoever. Because their past treatment had been so terrible, they were easier to win over than common civilians and army riffraff. Only by arming them first, by having the barrel of a gun in hand, could one speak and act with firm resolve.

This was Diwu Lun's plan, and also the mission of Zang Nu and the others: to take these scant three hundred-odd men and train them into an army on the template of the Boar-Rush Braves.

When Diwu Lun left New Qinzhong, he had exploited his public office for private gain, bringing back over a hundred personal military officers. He then split them in two: half went with Diwu Pingdan to train the clan soldiers in Linqu Township, Liewei Commandery; the other half, led by Zang Nu, followed him to Wei Commandery. These men had all served as military officers in the past. Now, serving as Sergeants, squad leaders, and centurions was well within their capabilities. The only obstacle was the language problem.

The dialects north of the Yellow River, with Zhao and Wei forming one branch, were quite different from the Guanzhong speech. To avoid talking at cross purposes, Diwu Lun set a high demand for Zang Nu and the others: "Within one month, understand the Wei-region dialect north of the River."

"Within two months, speak it."

The men looked at each other in dismay. This was too hard. Say, could they turn it around and have the convicts learn the Guanzhong dialect instead?

Diwu Lun indicated that, for the time being, that was not possible. For a powerful, unified dynasty to start with a small number of scholars and gradually promote the standard refined speech was feasible. But to have him, the Diwu Commandery Governor whose decrees barely left his office, apply that right now to illiterate convicts and Wei-region commoners was simply unrealistic. They might well regard it as oppressive governance, preferring bitter toil to racking their brains. Better to follow local customs.

For a time, many places in the commandery offices practically turned into language corners. Zang Nu and the military officers had no choice but to ask the Wenxue Yuan to teach them the local speech, starting with curse words — anyway, when first drilling troops, knowing the local profanities was entirely sufficient. Without cursing, could raw recruits ever be hammered into shape?

After personally inspecting the convicts who were training in standing and sitting postures, Diwu Lun announced an increase in their food rations, from eight dou of grain per month to one dan and a half. This greatly delighted the convicts. In the past, they were supposed to receive government-issued gruel, but the officials often substituted old, moldy, and rotten millet or rice, or even directly embezzled it.

After that, winter clothing was distributed — in the past, officials would rather let winter clothes pile up like mountains in the storehouses, gradually growing moldy, than take them out to let the convict slaves ward off the cold.

Because in the eyes of the government, they were expendable items. If they died, new ones would replenish the supply; they simply were not worth good treatment.

Although Diwu Lun wanted to seize power while standing tall, he still compromised — with himself, and with the era.

He set aside the unrealistic ideals from when he trained troops in New Qinzhong and chose a path easier to realize.

As he left the military camp, Diwu Lun heard Zang Nu and the others, in their halting Wei-region speech, teaching the convict soldiers to shout in unison.

"Eat Lord Diwu's rice!"

"Wear Lord Diwu's clothes!"

"Serve Lord Diwu!"

……

If Zang Nu and his men were securing the barrel of the gun, then Geng Chun, serving as Wuguan Yuan, was securing the barrel of the pen.

When word spread that Geng Chun had been appointed Wuguan Yuan, overseeing the affairs of various bureaus whose directors were vacant, the eastern and western bureaus in the commandery office were abuzz with discussion. What first drew their interest was Geng Chun's family background.

The petty clerks, who had their own code of survival and often spent their entire lives working in the commandery yamen, had their own channels of information: from the coachmen driving the superior officials' chariots to the deeply entrenched networks of family connections — whatever they wished to find out, they could always obtain.

They quickly figured out Geng Chun's family background: the legitimate son of the Geng clan of Songzi in Julu!

"The Geng clan of Julu — that is a renowned and distinguished lineage."

This clan had a long, deep-rooted history. The main branch was in Songzi County, flourishing with many members. Moreover, Geng Chun's father, Geng Ai, was also a two-thousand-dan official, quite famous throughout the commanderies of Hebei.

When it came to pedigree and official records, Wei Commandery's Ximen clan and Wu'an's Li clan were really just local magnates. Since their founding ancestors Ximen Bao and Li Mu, they had produced no high officials, and could not remotely compare to the Geng clan; even proposing marriage alliances would make them feel ashamed of their own inferiority.

Since Geng Chun came from a good family background, they could not make things difficult for him the way they would bully a chief from a humble family. The petty clerks discussed and decided they needed a different tactic: "Scions of renowned families are often too lazy for minutiae. Let us weary him with official documents. After a few days, he will be exhausted and slack off."

The most senior petty clerk in the commandery office was named Han Fulai. After the Xin Dynasty promoted single-character given names, he changed it to "Han Fu."

Han Fu was most adept at the tricks of the low-ranking clerks. For instance, he would bury a crucial document at the very bottom of a mountain of bamboo slips and tablets. An ordinary chief, after growing weary from flipping through them, would often overlook it. Afterwards, the petty clerk could claim with an innocent face that he had already requested instructions, but the superior had not given a response.

In short, the aim was to use complicated and verbose documents to confuse the outsider Cao Yuans who had parachuted in alongside the Commandery Governor, to keep them from grasping the true depth of commandery affairs, forcing them to rely on their underling clerks to get things done. This made it convenient for the clerks to manipulate matters and hold onto power. And once someone gradually figured out their tricks, the clerks would find ways to pull strings and get that person booted out and transferred, then bring in a new one to tame.

Yet on Geng Chun's very first day in office, he had the petty clerks trembling with fear.

This young Wuguan Yuan seemed amiable, but he was not easy to deal with. He first assembled everyone and spoke at length about how he had assisted his father with commandery affairs back in Dingtao, and then chatted about how, when he served as a Remonstrant Gentleman at court, he had traded witty banter with the even more scheming petty clerks of the Nine Ministers.

Diwu Lun knew Geng Chun's ability, so he assigned five Cao Yuan posts for him to manage all at once. After all, the very purpose of the Wuguan Yuan position was to be deployed wherever needed.

Geng Chun first inspected his old specialty: the Granary Bureau. The Granary Bureau managed grain storage affairs and was also one of the places with the most shady dealings. The long-famous "fire dragon burning the granary," "shadow soldiers borrowing grain," and "account books falling into the water" — all were tricks hatched by the Granary Bureau.

Geng Chun was highly proficient in the work. He flipped through the account books at great speed, yet could spot deliberately concealed areas at a single glance. Smiling, he pointed them out one by one, telling everyone not to make such careless mistakes in the future. This made Han Fu and the others break out in cold sweat on their foreheads; it seemed that in future bookkeeping, overly obvious loopholes could no longer exist.

Next was the Household Bureau. The field maps and crisscrossing paths that could baffle a layman were crystal clear to Geng Chun. He inventoried the civilian households as if enumerating his family treasures. The entire commandery, across eighteen counties, had a total of 212,849 households and a population of 909,655.

If the household registers were accurate, how much tax and land rent each county and township should pay — he laid it all out, item by item, perfectly clear. It was very difficult for the petty clerks to rob Peter to pay Paul.

Next, he moved on to the Chief Records Bureau, which managed and recorded documents and supervised deadlines. Geng Chun arranged the formats and the tricks of wording with perfect clarity. The same went for the Memorials Bureau, which handled the drafting of memorials. This bureau was responsible for consolidating the affairs of all bureaus for the Commandery Governor's review. Geng Chun was essentially helping Diwu Lun preemptively eliminate many pitfalls that the petty clerks buried in the wording of documents and decrees.

Even for the Law Bureau, which oversaw the postal relay stations and regulations, Geng Chun handled matters with composed ease.

By this time, the day was drawing to a close. Geng Chun had a meal brought in. With one hand holding chopsticks, picking up food to eat, and the other hand scrolling through documents, he was able to point out each postal relay station, without a single error or omission, while simultaneously arranging the funds and fodder to be distributed to them for the next month. He performed with such unhurried poise that the crowd was utterly stunned.

By the end of that day, whether the various clerks of the five bureaus or the old clerk Han Fu, all stared at Geng Chun wide-eyed, no longer daring to harbor the slightest contempt or hope of manipulating him. They all said: "In one day, he toured five bureaus; with one hand, he reviewed a hundred scrolls. Geng Wuguan is truly worthy of the title 'Wuguan Yuan'!"

The name "Geng Wuguan" thus became famous. Yet in reality, when he returned to Diwu Lun's hall that evening to report on his mission, Geng Chun completely shed the calm, composed demeanor he had shown before the petty clerks during the day. To Diwu Lun, who hoped he would "let the able do more work" and embody the 996 spirit, Geng Chun complained:

"Even an old ox at home can't plow five qing of fields in a single day!"

With the look of a man utterly drained, Geng Chun indicated he had not a drop of energy left, and ground his teeth: "Diwu Boyu, just try assigning me a sixth bureau. Believe me, I will resign tomorrow!"

……

"By all rights, as Commandery Governor, I'm old enough to be your father-in-law's peer. Having you serve as acting Menxia Yuan is truly using a great talent for a petty task. But the memorial reporting merit to the court will take time to go back and forth. Father-in-law, please endure this indignity for a few days. Use your ox-slaughtering blade to kill a few chickens for me!"

Ma Yuan, however, said to Diwu Lun, "Family doesn't speak two ways. I'm not looking for promotion — let it be Retainer Under the Gate. I'll help you prop up the commandery office for now, but this old man must be on his way soon."

The matter of bringing his daughter to reunite with her husband was still waiting for Ma Yuan to carry out. With bandits breaking out all along the road, he could not set his mind at ease.

That was what he said, but when Geng Chun and Zang Nu's side got on track, Ma Yuan — whom Diwu Lun had appointed as Retainer Under the Gate — also began helping Diwu Lun carry out his recruitment plan.

The first to be arranged were the "Five Officers Under the Gate," the commandery governor's personal retinue, escort, and outriders: the Mounted Officer, the Halberd Bearer, the Lance Bearer, the Vanguard, and the Boundary Marker. All were trusted kinsmen Diwu Lun had brought with him.

Next, Ma Yuan selected two reliable men from among the brave warriors and knight-errants of Wei Commandery he had earlier recruited for Li Yan, to serve as Diwu Lun's "Bandit Suppressor Under the Gate" and "Patrol Officer Under the Gate."

These two were called Zhang Hu and Zhao Meng — both had faces full of brawn, men of great physical strength. When they paid their respects to Diwu Lun, Master Diwu asked them what they had done in the past.

Zhang Hu laughed and said, "In the past, I was a bandit chief."

Zhao Meng likewise said, "In former days, I was a bandit leader."

Good heavens — using bandits to catch bandits? Diwu Lun admired Ma Yuan, but it was indeed no problem. Ma Yuan said both men were the sort of chivalrous bandits who cherished righteousness and could carry out Heaven's way on earth. Having gained these two, he had them keep their underlings in line, and with the government office assisting, the other vicious bandit gangs were wiped out. The underworld forces in the lanes of Yecheng essentially fell under Diwu Lun's control.

Apart from the two men Ma Yuan recommended, and a certain sexagenarian whom Diwu Lun personally rode out in a carriage to summon — a "Filial Son Under the Gate" famed for supporting his eighty-year-old mother —

the remaining officers under the gate were mainly recruited through "self-recommendation" by local scholars. Diwu Lun urgently needed scholars familiar with the locality to join him.

"Though the rank and salary of an officer under the gate are modest, they are the commandery governor's trusted confidants. It is very easy for the chickens and dogs to ascend to heaven — to rise to the top in a single step."

For example, back when Wang Mang was expelled from the capital and sent to his fief, the Governor of Nanyang, because Wang Mang was noble and important, selected his own Retainer Under the Gate, Kong Xiu, to serve as Chancellor of Xindu. From a petty, insignificant clerk to a six-hundred-dan official — it took only a single word.

Yet in the end, not many actually came — only twenty-odd people arrived at the commandery office. This left Diwu Lun, who had assumed the applicants would trample down the office gates, somewhat embarrassed. It seemed his reputation in Guanzhong was indeed not illustrious enough in far-off Wei Commandery. The locals were all waiting and watching.

Even with only twenty-odd people, they still had to go through interviews with Diwu Lun and Ma Yuan.

Ma Yuan asked, "There remain seven or eight posts — Merit Officer Under the Gate, Libationer, Document Clerk, Inspector, Discussion Scholar, and so on. Shall we take only eight men and eliminate the rest? Better to leave a post unfilled than fill it with the unworthy?"

"No — better to fill it with the unworthy than leave it unfilled. Take all the rest into the office under the gate as well. Make them Discussion Scholars Under the Gate and Inspectors Under the Gate with no specific duties! We absolutely must not let local scholars who come with ardent sincerity leave empty-handed!"

Petty functionaries did not need outstanding ability; having a few more was no problem. Since there were not many applicants, Diwu Lun, besides selecting the talented to serve as his wings, also needed to show the people of Wei Commandery his attitude: the first batch who stepped forward to pledge allegiance to me — all will have food to eat!

Ma Yuan looked at him sideways. "Buying a horse skeleton for a thousand gold is all very well — but do you have a thousand gold?"

Indeed — such was the state of the Great Xin: salaries were paid incompletely, or not at all. And the Diwu clan's wealth in Guanzhong would have to be converted into bolts of cloth and silk and transported here — the road was long and the cost high.

Diwu Lun had no local property. If he recruited too many people in one go, what would he use to support this crowd of officers under the gate, who were in practice nothing but retained dependents?

Wasn't that simple?

He laughed and said, "My two-thousand-dan salary — the Granary Section must pay it in full."

After a few years of scrambling through officialdom, Diwu Lun had become a thick-skinned old hand. "If it's still not enough, no great matter — I can accept bribes from powerful families, or find some pretext to divert a portion of public funds to private use!"

…

PS: Chapter 2 at 18:00.